Double-blind comparison of ketazolam, diazepam and placebo in once-a-day vs t.i.d. dosing.

Comparison of ketazolam given once-a-day with diazepam given three times a day and placebo given either once or 3 times a day in 101 anxious outpatients showed ketazolam to be significantly better than placebo in alleviating the symptoms of anxiety and, on several measures of efficacy, better than diazepam as well. Significantly fewer patients on ketazolam dropped out of the study due to ineffective medication than on the other 3 treatments. The incidence of side effects was lowest in the ketazolam group. Of particular note, drowsiness was reported twice as often by diazepam patients as by ketazolam patients.